Panthers win, earn share of league title
For the first time in 15 seasons, UW-Milwaukee's women's basketball team is a conference champion.
The Panthers rode a big firstquarter lead to a 72-53 victory at Illinois-Chicago on Saturday afternoon, earning themselves a share of the Horizon League's regularseason title along with Wright State.
UWM (18-6, 15-5) were co-champions in 2000-01 and again in 2005-06 in addition to winning this season's crown, which was captured largely due to a 12-0 start in league play that included road sweeps of heavyweights UW-Green Bay and IUPUI.
With the Horizon League using RPI to determine seeding for the postseason, UWM -- which played all 24 of its scheduled games in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic -will be seeded second and earn a first-round bye as a result.
The Panthers will host a quarterfinal game at the Klotsche Center on March 2 against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
"I think I'm still in a little bit of shock," said UWM coach Kyle Rechlicz, "It's such a different year because with COVID, everything gets figured out based off of a formula and not necessarily off of wins and losses. And we didn't even know what the scenarios looked like going into the game.
"So, it wasn't like when we won, we knew we won a championship. It was waiting for them to compute everything out, and see where the numbers landed. It was a really surreal moment and very exciting to be able to tell the team on the bus that we were co-champions and get their reaction."
It was senior forward Brandi Bisping who once again led the way against the Flames, putting up 16 points and six rebounds.